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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Vespoidea » Hornets, Yellowjackets; Paper, Potter, Mason, and Pollen Wasps; and Allies (Vespidae) » Paper Wasps (Polistinae) » Long-waisted Paper Wasps (Mischocyttarus)

Genus Mischocyttarus - Long-waisted Paper Wasps

Paper Wasp - Mischocyttarus flavitarsis - female With Larvae - Mischocyttarus mexicanus - female Wasp opening a Hemerophila diva cocoon - Mischocyttarus mexicanus - female Mischocyttarus mexicanus cubicola - Mischocyttarus mexicanus Mischocyttarus mexicanus - female Polistes aurifer? - Mischocyttarus flavitarsis Wasp Nest - Mischocyttarus mexicanus Long-waisted Paper Wasp - Mischocyttarus mexicanus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
Superfamily Vespoidea
Family Vespidae (Hornets, Yellowjackets; Paper, Potter, Mason, and Pollen Wasps; and Allies)
Subfamily Polistinae (Paper Wasps)
Genus Mischocyttarus (Long-waisted Paper Wasps)
Explanation of Names
Mischocyttarus Saussure 1853
from the Greek μίσχος 'stalk' + κύτταρος 'cell of a honeycomb' => 'stalked honeycomb' (the nest Saussure described was suspended from a slender stalk)
Numbers
3 spp. in our area, all in the subgenus Phi; the largest genus of social wasps, with nearly 250 described spp.(1) • US records of M. phthisicus refer to M. mexicanus cubicola(2)
Identification
meso- & metatarsomeres 3 & 4 strongly asymmetrical. First gastric segment narrowed into an elongate petiole.
Range
New World, primarily neotropical(1)
Works Cited
1.Vespidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) of Puerto Rico, West Indies
Carpenter J.M., Genaro J.A. 2011. Insecta Mundi 0202: 1-35.
2.Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico
Karl V. Krombein, Paul D. Hurd, Jr., David R. Smith, and B. D. Burks. 1979. Smithsonian Institution Press.
Contributed by Lynette Elliott on 26 March, 2006 - 7:12am
Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset, Chuck Entz, v belov, KenW, PaleoJon, Arturo Santos
Last updated 11 October, 2023 - 8:41am

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